Patentable/Patents/US-11430453
US-11430453

Apparatus, method and computer program for upmixing a downmix audio signal using a phase value smoothing

PublishedAugust 30, 2022
Assigneenot available in USPTO data we have
Inventorsnot available in USPTO data we have
Technical Abstract

An apparatus for upmixing a downmix audio signal describing one or more downmix audio channels into an upmixed audio signal describing a plurality of upmixed audio channels includes an upmixer and a parameter determinator. The upmixer is configured to apply temporally variable upmix parameters to upmix the downmix audio signal in order to obtain the upmixed audio signal, wherein the temporally variable upmix parameters include temporally variable smoothened phase values. The parameter determinator is configured to obtain one or more temporally smoothened upmix parameters for usage by the upmixer on the basis of a quantized upmix parameter input information. The parameter determinator is configured to combine a scaled version of a previous smoothened phase value with a scaled version of an input phase information using a phase change limitation algorithm, to determine a current smoothened phase value on the basis of the previous smoothened phase value and the phase input information.

Patent Claims
6 claims

Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.

2

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the parameter determinator is configured to combine a scaled version of the previous smoothened phase value with a scaled version of the input phase information, such that the current smoothened phase value is in a smaller angle region out a first angle region and a second angle region, wherein the first angle region extends, in a mathematically positive direction, from a first start direction defined by the previous smoothened phase value to a first end direction defined by the input phase information, and wherein the second angle region extends, in a mathematically positive direction, from a second start direction defined by the input phase information to a second end direction defined by the previous smoothened phase value.

3

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the parameter determinator is configured to select a combination rule out of a plurality of different combination rules in dependence on a difference between the input phase information and the previous smoothened phase value, and to determine the current smoothened phase value using the selected combination rule.

7

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the smoothing controller is configured to evaluate, as the smoothened phase quantity, a difference between two smoothened phase values, and to evaluate, as the corresponding input phase quantity, a difference between two input phase values corresponding to the two smoothened phase values.

9

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the parameter determinator is configured to adjust a filter time constant for determining a sequence of smoothened phase values in dependence on a current difference between a smoothened phase value and a corresponding input phase value.

10

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the parameter determinator is configured to adjust a filter time constant for determining a sequence of smoothened phase values in dependence on a difference between a smoothened inter-channel phase difference which is defined by a difference between two smoothened phase values associated with different channels of the upmixed audio signal, and a non-smoothened inter-channel phase difference, which is defined by a non-smoothened inter-channel phase difference information.

11

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus for upmixing is configured to selectively enable and disable a phase value smoothing function in dependence on an information extracted from an audio bitstream.

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Patent Metadata

Filing Date

January 30, 2020

Publication Date

August 30, 2022

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Cite as: Patentable. “Apparatus, method and computer program for upmixing a downmix audio signal using a phase value smoothing” (US-11430453). https://patentable.app/patents/US-11430453

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